French supermarket group Carrefour and its British peer Tesco said on Monday they would not extend a purchasing alliance between the two companies.
They said in a joint statement that "they have decided not to extend their purchasing alliance beyond the three-year operational framework agreed in 2018."
The alliance formally ends on Dec. 31, they said, adding that the two would now focus on opportunities independently.
The purchasing agreement had aimed to allow Carrefour and Tesco to cut prices and expand ranges of their own-label products.
Carrefour has been keen to show it can grow by itself, after its potential takeover from Canadian rival Couche-Tard unravelled this year following French government opposition.
Carrefour agreed this year to buy Brazil's third-biggest food retailer Grupo BIG, and the company also posted strong first-quarter results in April.
By contrast, Tesco reported in April a 20% drop in full-year pretax profit as the cost of adapting the business for the pandemic wiped out the benefit of "exceptionally strong" grocery sales.
&uuid=(email))